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A family photo shows Emako Mendoza, 75, who was mauled at her Paradise Hills home by her neighbor's two pit bulls, authorities said. |
Emako Mendoza was inside the fenced back yard of her home on Alleghany Street near Potomac Street in Paradise Hills, when the attack occurred around 6:30 a.m.
Her husband, Frank Mendoza, 78, said he was sleeping when his wife went to the back yard to get the paper, as she did each morning. He was awakened by “the daughters next door, they were ringing and ringing my doorbell,” he said.
He ran outside, saw his wife lying bloodied on the ground, and called 911.
The dogs, which belonged to her neighbor, entered the Mendoza yard through a hole in the fence, San Diego police Officer Frank Cali said.
The neighbor, Alba Cornelio, surrendered the pit bulls to the county Animal Control Department, and the animals were euthanized, agency Lt. Dan DeSousa said.
Mendoza said doctors at Scripps Mercy Hospital had to amputate his wife’s leg and may have to amputate her left arm, which was mangled from her hand to her elbow.
“She’s not doing too good,” Mendoza said Saturday night. “She’s in very critical condition.”
The couple have lived in the home for 42 years and their neighbor had been raising pit bulls next door for about 10 years, Mendoza said. He said the dogs were constantly barking, but had never caused problems.
Two people reached at the Cornelio home Saturday night said they had no comment, but one said they were upset by the incident.
DeSousa said dog licenses were current for one dog and expired for the other. He said his agency would be investigating whether Cornelio exercised care to ensure that the dogs stayed confined.
No complaints against Cornelio’s dogs were on file, DeSousa said, but investigators will be interviewing neighbors and the victim’s husband to learn whether the dogs had caused problems that were not reported.
(San Diego Tribune - June 18, 2011)
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